'When The Dust Settles' - Greyhawk Campaign Setting With Castles & Crusades Rpg Summertime Update

 "The dust has settled. The smoke has cleared. The war machines of Greyhawk's armies have ground to a halt.

In the aftermath of the great war, the people of Oerik piece together, some struggling to retain their homes, others pilgrimaging to the cities, searching for opportunities. And searching for answers."

"Who is in power? Which borders still stand, and which have been dissolved? Can anyone be trusted, or have Scarlet Brotherhood agents infiltrated every inn and tavern?

The lands of Greyhawk are forever changed, but provide more opportunities than ever for adventure and danger. Characters of all levels will find challenges and intrigue lurking in every alley and behind every tree." 

So let's pick this up right from here. Vecna Lives picks up after 'the From The Ashes' box set events & we were supposed to explore that this coming week but there's been a slight change in plans?! Why? Because my co dungeon master is at a conference out in California for the rest of the week. And half of our  players bailed because of Summertime famial commitments?! Wait, why are not all upset?! Because we were expecting this and the other PC's are lost in the fog of war. And here's where the thrill of Castles & Crusade's NPC Almanic The Register  comes into play. Different PC's encounter different NPC's who relate different view points of events ' From The Ashes' & 'Vecna Lives' 

And this leads into the PC's stumbling into the events of Vecna Lives in the deep end of the adventure pond. And there's a few minor NPC villains to help stir the pot here. 

OSR Commentary WGA4 Vecna Lives! (2e) By Doug Niles - Greyhawk Campaign Setting With Castles & Crusades Rpg

 "...and so, after the Rain of Colorless Fire, the One-Named-In-Whispers ascended to the Spidered Throne. In the third year of his ascendancy, Burgred, King of the Mara, refused the tribute of heads the Whispered One demanded. The One-Named-In-Whispers took only himself and Kas, his evil counselor, and devastated the land of the Mara with his magic. Burgred paid with his own head.

Upon their return, Kas struck against his master, so that he might become the master of the Spidered Throne. In the end, both were slain and good people rejoiced.

"It is said that not all of the evil Lich was destroyed. So great was his power that his Hand and Eye have lived on, working evil over the centuries....

"For centuries, Vecna - archmage, despotic tyrant, the most fearsome of all liches - has been nothing but a fearful legend to the honest folk of Greyhawk. Once the supreme master of all undead sorcerers, even today his Hand and Eye are objects of immense power.

Now something evil is stirring in the lands around Greyhawk. The Hand and Eye of Vecna have been found - and Vecna wants them back."

WGA4: Vecna Lives! (1990), by David "Zeb" Cook, is the fourth adventure in the World of Greyhawk Adventures series. It was published in January 1991. WGA4: Vecna Lives! as the fourth adventure in the World of Greyhawk Adventures works on a number of levels especially players attention on Stranger Things fourth season on Netflick. This renewal of the Greyhawk campaign setting brings home the attention Vecna commands. And this brings home the fact that  Castles & Crusades is perfect for plugging in as the running rpg system. And WGA4: Vecna Lives! works well with James Ward's Greyhawk Adventures. Because Vecna Lives takes place after 'From The Ashes' box set's events in Greyhawk. And here's where the  Castles & Crusades NPC Almanac The Register. Comes into it's own. 

 The  Castles & Crusades NPC Almanac The Register is perfect for creating travelers, refugees, etc. from the events of  From The Ashes by Carl Sargent  within Greyhawk. And its dark fantasy roots & underpinnings show through especially with WGA4: Vecna Lives!.

'From The Ashes' up from the Warden slamming into Greyhawk and this kicks off the events of the box set. And stablility goes from civilization into Chaos. 

Trolling In The Darkness - - Greyhawk Castles & Crusades Mixed session report III

 Having stuffed our pockets with treasure and provisions we moved on rounding the corner of the dungeon. This is going to pick up right from our last session as we rounded a corner & came face to face with another hobb and four of his warriors. And they looked at us as we all heard a roar in the darkness & then they simply bolted past us! 

Playing in someone else's Greyhawk campaign using the Castles & Crusades rpg system has been interesting to say the least. There's a couple of truths that one faces when the goblins & hobbs we were fighting suddenly scatter in the middle of combat. Greyhawk is in point of fact a vast setting unto itself. And its easy to see why it take

The dungeon under the  ruins that we were in didn't matter all that much because when the dice are not going your way the following thruths become evident. Trolls on encounter tables are exceedingly dangerous. Surviving allows disease to be a huge factor. And torches as well as flammable oil can mean the difference between dealing with a horror movie situation or turning the tide with fast thinking. 

The rest of the night was getting every last fricking piece of troll flesh & burning it. We didn't care about the horde of goblins that we'd seen earlier. Trolls are a problem especially dealing with DM Steve's passion for using the larger varieties of C&C gaint cave trolls often employed by hobbs & goblins. These often turn on their 'employers' & eat the whole colony. 

Now we used a ball of string to map our way back to the store room that we'd barracaded ourselves in a couple of game sessions ago. And were mapping our way through this underground maze under a set of ruins. We came to a temple area that had been repurposed by the goblins & orcs. But we moved past it because of the smell of troll dung. 
And that's when we hit a piece of scap metal from the Warden having slammed into Greyhawk ages ago. This huge slab of metal might be a wall or simply debris that wedged itself in the underworld of this complex. We found the edge of it after feeling for its edge in the darkness & came face to face with a group of hobgoblin adventurer NPC's. And our knight spoke enough hobgoblin to call a parley before we got into a melee. They were down here for a rite of passage being 26 Summers old & actually wanted no trouble. The hobgoblins had a blood oath vendetta against the orcs of the skull rippers tribe who resided down here. We were after artifacts & other sundry items for our wizard patron. So there wasn't any reason to fight. A quick trade of a copy of our map and some food netted us a magic ring from them. And then it was wishing each other luck & moving on. Our party told them about the trolls in this area & the goblin tribes with their huge hobbs. The hobgoblins wanted to trade for more arrows to which we were more then happy to do. The young hobgoblin warriors were scared of the hobbs and we noted this. 
There's something quite frightening about hobgoblin warriors even if their away from their tribe being scared of hobbs?! 

They're coming down off the walls! - Greyhawk Castles & Crusades Mixed session report II

 So tonight's DM Steve game saw me step from behind the screen once again & get a chance to play Castles & Crusades. This game session report is going to pick right up from last blog post here.  We took up positions amid ruined columns & debris at the bottom of this dungeon. 

And as we were taking stock of our situation one of the idio erm adventurers wanted to light a torch in the middle of this dungeon. Already we'd seen evidence of orc inhabitation & caught sight of goblin activity in the area near us. Namely discarded & broken arrows with lots of human blood on them. Never a good sign. We did light the torches & my God I'm sorry we did! The walls of this former ruin were literally crawling with goblins! They were lightly armored, armed with short bows, and daggers! And there were hundreds of them! 
And that's when we decided to run! That's right we ran like our lives depened upon it with torches in the dark until we reached a door. It was unlocked! We took the opportunity to bolt in then take stock of the situation after we bolted the door. We were quiet,very quiet in point of fact. Checked the store room we found ourselves in for traps, rats, extra. But it was an ordinary store room with a couple of skeletons with in it. We quickly separated heads from bodies & quietly separated the bones. Then looked around for giant rats! Fortunately there wasn't a single one! Whar we found were extra arrows, sling stones, etc. left behind by the former adventurers whose skeletons we found. 
As everyone else was taking stock of the room, my PC listened at the door. Experience in DM Steve's campagin had taught us well. There had to be a fresh water source nearby to support the goblin population & their orc or hob masters. And that's when I heard something big just outside the door. We extinuished the totches. And our cleric silently prayed to her gods. 

Jusr outside the door I heard the heavy foot falls of the monster and what seemed like thousands of tinier foot falls joining it. We stayed put for almost an hour as the sounds passed the door again & again. The door was baracaded by this time as we quietly handed ruined furnature & debris to block the door temporarily. 
When the coast was clear we left & moved into one of the side hall ways off the main ruin's hall. And we figured out our problem we landed smack into a goblin nest site! This ruin was two former buildings that had crashed into each other & the halls were actually in the other building. That's when we heard the shrill voices of some creatures with the shadows of torchlight coming our way down the hall. Again we ducked into another room until the orc patrol passed!
I got a chance to get a good look at these orcs & their armor, weapons, etc. were all in good repair. They wore armor similar but not quite the same as the goblins! We've got a series of well orgnized goblins, orcs, hobbs, and hobgoblins all armed to the teeth. This whole affair was making  me as a player very nervous. 
So I pulled the other players aside on smoke break and told them my theory that we needed to get out of here fast. There were way too much activity that screamed goblin hive and orc overseers! And we weren't finding anything to contradicted this! 
We rouned the next hallway corner and came face to face with a hobb along his 4 goblin henchmen. We didn't want to face down a raging hobgoblin strong man with hormone issues. I mainaged a lucky roll doing damage to his back with my daggers! And that's when it became pile up on the hobb & his henchmen. 
After combat we looted the bodies & talked about how rich they were which was worrisome! Why?! Because there had been other adventurers down here. 

In The Ashen Desert Caper- Greyhawk Castles & Crusades Mixed session report

 

During tonight's Castles & Crusades rpg campaign put out by DM Steve, the forever DM myself got a chance to slip from behind the screen to play Asrog The Thief a 6th level PC. The C&C  game setting takes place on the world of Greyhawk where the Warden of Metamorphis Alpha rpg fame has crashed! And the world is one of Sword & Superscience but at a price. The Rain of Colorless Fire was actually the Warden hitting Greyhawk! The world is thrown into other utter chaos & our party of adventurers is in the middle of this trying to make sense of it all 200 years after the event. 

Our party is in the employ of a wealthy merchant prince whose obsessed with collecting the remains of what fell from the sky. Or so he thinks. We've a party of seven for tonight's game & my poor thief has been put into the midst of a knight, a paladin, two fighters, a cleic, a smarmy wizard, and a Dwarven warrior. The Dwarf my thief gets along with & we've been traveling for many days after buying a map from a gnome clan of cartographers & explorers. The dungeon is a series of ruins just jutting up from the sands.
The sands have been fused into green golden glass that we passed by & were attacked by 3 glass elementals. The elemental energies are extremely strong here. The warriors pounded on the 3 glass elementals & finally our wizard fire balled the lot! The ruins were a series of low slung buildings or at least they were. After a bit of searching we managed to find an iron wrought door. Checking for traps my PC was able to avoid a needle trap! After picking the lock the door quietly opened!? Why would a door to a dungeon open easily unleas it was maintained! I got one of my daggers out just in case after descending into the darkness on a rope  with only a torch & my daggers forprotection. There were voices from down below! 
A quick series of  tugs on the rope above & I extinguished the torch. Now with the rest of the warriors coming down the rope I moved swiftly to get to the bottom of the ruins.All around us was debris from orc inhabitation. They are after all descended from demonic pigs. We sought cover as soon as we reached the bottom of the ruins & looked around. We were expecting anything around us & so didn't take any chances! More to come next week! 

More OSR Resources Aboard The Warden - B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

Henri The Hurricane caused lots of mayhem for me as a DM this past weekend. It turned out to be a mild storm with an attitude. If one listened to the newscasters it was supposed to be the 'storm of the century'. And said newscasters almost but not quite seem geniunely diappointed when there wasn't any real destruction unlike Hurricane Sandy which barrelled through New England in 2012. We cancelled four game sessions this weekend . Fortunely my current B2 Keep of the Borderlands by Gary Gygax  kept my mind busy. 


 B2 Keep on the Bordlerands set aboard the Warden or a simlar starship has gotten me thinking about another older campaign  idea. Adventurer, Coqueror, King rpg's The Sinister Stone of Sakkara by Matthew Skail & , Alexander Macris works very well as a bridge gap between B2 & some of the weirdness aboard the Warden. A quisi Indo European adventure location with the advanced beastmen & their growing numbers aboard the Starship Warden works. 

There's already a Science Fantasy background baked into many of the ACK's adventures & the ACK's theme could continue with using  AX3: Capital of the Borderlands  to expand upon the quisi Late Roman Empire feel of this style of adventure.  AX3: Capital of the Borderlands  could provide a true base of operations within such a campaign. The AX3: Capital of the Borderlands book has more then enough material in it to add & drop it into an existing campaign or it could alternatively be used to bridge gap the classic B2 Keep on the Borderlands as a campaign extension for the Starship Warden.

AX3: Capital of the Borderlands  could easily serve
as the home base for the PC's. 

  The late Roman Empire asthestic of AX3: Capital of the Borderlands  could help to explain some of the weirdness of why the fortresses have been established along the borderlands. The campaign is going to walk a fine line between the dark Pulp fantasy of ACK's & the grittiness of 'The Star Ship Warden'. There's more then enough room to stick in other OSR influences here. The ACK's influence could allow the campaign setting to take on an almost ancient Alexandra style with traces of the Silk Road exoticism thrown in with more then enough Thundarr The Barbanian moments. 

The Starship Warden has more then enough traces of  actual Earth history within it to allow the DM to do both gonzo & serious in equal turns. 
The Warden has many influencs within its pages & its possible that the PC's  might find one of the multiple houses on their travels across the campaign lands. This means that the PC's could stumble upon one of the many ruined homes scattered across the landscape of the Warden.

This very situation actually goes back to one of the early Metamorphis Alpha Rpg first edition adventures. The excellent 'Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill' by Craig J. Brain, Bonus Content by James M. Ward could be slipped between B2 Keep on the Borderland & some of the other Starship Warden encounters. Even though this adventure is first edition MA its easily adaptable with very little work by the DM to the Starship Warden. 

The houses featured in the adventure are both familar & yet very dangerous highlighting the entire feel of the Metamorphis Alpha game going back to its beginnings. 
The Warden takes its weirdness on its own terms & this is something that extends a great deal to the Amazing Adventures version of the Starship Warden. Familiar & yet utterly alien in equal turns. 
Make no mistake that  'Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill'  is absolutely deadly unto itself. Stupid actions are going to equal dead PC's. Read through the entire adventure & don't convert this one on the fly. This is the voice of experince here. Read through, take notes, and convert monsters as needed. 
These house could contain very valuable information about the actual state of the Warden. The predicament that the PC's find themselves in & the current state of the Warden. Could this mini adventure be linked into the cult of Chaos?! Its very possible as the PC's stumble across a group of cultists messsing with a bungalow aboard the Warden for valuable artifacts or possible weapons. The PC's coming into the middle of such a raid? And then dealing with the fall out from it.  There's also the fact that currently there's a  9.95 the Metamorphosis Alpha Bundle  which snags you Metamorphosis Alpha 1E, 3 Metamorphosis Alpha sourcebooks, and Death Ziggurat & Warden Adventures. Erok Tankard has far more details on this bundle here. 
These resources would have to be converted over to Starship Warden rules as the DM & players see fit. 

One Thing Leads Back From Another - - B2 Keep on the Borderlands & T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book Session Report

 The mask fell off during last night's session of our usual Amazing Adventures/Castles & Crusades game an old player of ours came back into the game campaign. Now on a Sunday night this wasn't a problem but this was one of last year's players. Let's call him Charlie, now charlie was playing with us when DM Steve & myself were doing a lot & I do mean a lot with Judge's Guild's The Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Now before we go any further let me clarify that we've got nothing to do with the luntic fringe of current JG owners's political views at all! And that debacle belongs to them. That being said, we got called on the carpet for changing up from the Wilderlands to Greyhawk. 'What do mean that it was Luz the whole time!?!' 'No @#R$@#ing way! I don't believe it!' 
'Nope I don't believe it at all!' 'No way it would be Luz!' 'What are you guys trying to pull here time out!' 'We need to have a meeting!' 

Ten minutes later Charlie & the rest of the players were back at the table top! We know that you've got something else planned! Back into game session! 
 'All of the humanoids are gone from the caves of chaos right except for a few guards left behind?'
'We've recovered a few of the items the cult left behind right?? 'Yes absolutely.' 
'We're going to camp here tonight & examine those plus come up wth a game plan before we go tackling a humanoid army' That night the party finds that the artifacts have strange almost but not quite Egyptian style  on them. They want to sell the artifacts ASAP.  Now this plays right into DM Steve & myself's hands because the party has unfinished business with another serpant cult. And  this cult has been known to pass itself off as other evil religions. The cult operates in both Greyhawk & the Wilderlands. 
But this is going to complicate the campaign tremendously but then Elven scouts in the party that night decided to check the woods around the party's camp. They came face to face with a lone hobgoblin scout & managed to capture him. Tied up & questioned by the party he was wearing desert light scout armor. There was also a symbol of the god Seth on around his left wrist tied. His swords bore serpent symbols in the hilts. He wanted to know if our party of adventurers were associated with the town of Mitra's Fist?! This completely bewildered the players except for Charlie where the penny dropped! He remembered his Elven scout's 'Jac In The Rose' time in Jennell Jaquays, formerly Paul  Jaquays, Dark Tower last year. The adventure remains unfinished by this group of players! Jack in the Rose raced back to tell the rest of the party & this is where we ended for this week! 

DM Steve & myself decided to drop the players into a generation ship. Is this the Warden?! We don't actually know yet. Are the humanoids getting ready to attack the town of Mitra's Fist? Its on our agenda & this might possibly lead back to the Wilderlands or we'll bring even more Wilderlands elements coming up soon. Where?! Hommlet remains mostly unexplored by the party at this point. The zombies remain within the moat house at this point. There's an excellent overview of JG88 Dark Tower over on the OSR Grimoire blog here. 

It Was Luz the Evil All Along - B2 Keep on the Borderlands & T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

Who could be responsible for the cults of evil in In B2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax?! The list of evil dieties comes down all of the way to one bastard son of a cambion that I can think of. And that's Luz  The Evil! That's right I said it! The three greatest evils to face the Flanaess are Iuz, the Scarlet Brotherhood (representing Tharizdun), & of course Vecna. But only Luz has the experience to know what the Spaceship Warden is & what it represents to the planes. 
The cult gets aboard the Warden when a chunk of Greyhawk is teleported over to the Warden or its attendent spacecraft. The Caves of Chaos however are still in deep contact with their master. The old Hermit is actually an unfrozen passenger or officier aboard the ship that's been 'converted' to Luz's cause. The Warden itself is a huge prize & Luz represents a danger to every living thing aboard the Warden. The Carl Sargent  sourcebook/adventure from '93 'Luz The Evil'  is perfect for this set up. Why this book?! JH's review on Amazon goes into the 'why' perfectly; "If you get a chance to buy this book, jump on it. This is the best Greyhawk sourcebook I have seen. Iuz the Evil details the holdings of Iuz, the evil demigod of the flanaess, just after the signing of The Pact of Greyhawk where the Greyhawk Wars ended. The sourcebook begins giving an excellent history of Iuz, from his birth to the end of the Greyhawk Wars. It explains Iuz's fears and aspirations for the future. Iuz's priesthood is examined and new spells and magic items are added for his faithful. All of Iuz's lands are detailed including the howling hills, Dorakaa (the city of skulls)and the rest of the Land of Iuz as well as the occupied territories (Horned Society, Shield Lands, Bandit Kingdoms, and the Land of Tenh). Included are the stats for Iuz's Armies and all the key players good and evil (mostly evil) including the dreaded members of the Boneheart. The sourcebook also gives adventure ideas for low levels all the way to the highest of levels. Another note of interest is that the areas described are the location for several previous adventures including The City of Skulls, White Plume Mountain, The Return to White Plume Mountain, and several others." 
Luz this whole time has been 'raising' an army of humanoids aboard the Warden. Hell the clone vats aboard the Warden have been churning them out all this time. Luz's has been excercing his control over the humaniods through his magicks. Is this anything new?! 

Nope. He's known as the god of pain for God sake. And creating a host of humanoids & undead to take over other decks is just his style. You got to understand that Luz's armies are solidly detailed. And they very much fit the Greyhawk mold of the humanoid horde. Sure there's Luz's inner circle but all in all this is a god that seems a bit linear in his thinking. But why not raise an army of humanoids to do your evil bidding. 
Luz being behind the evils of B2 isn't all that surprising. But bringing his brand of evil to the Warden is sorta. And this is because the bastard god of evil knows he's got competition. There are literally hundreds of evil wolfoids aboard the Warden. These creatures & perhaps their shaman's may know of the evil powers behind some of the misery aboard the Warden. the question really is, 'Can anyone spoilt the 'fun' of Luz & co.? 
This is where the party comes in. The adventurers are going to be that unknown quality in the works. And this brings up a very interesting point. Can  adventurers really ruin the god of evil's plans?! If everything goes to plan?! Yes would be the answer. 
Why?! The keep of course! The keep is one constant's in the module & it offers a safe haven in a sea of chaos that the Warden may become. Hommlet is going to become a casulty straight off. The horde takes out the village unless extreme measures on the part of the PC's is done. 

If the humanoids vanish & its Luz wanting to take another deck onboard the Warden then what happens?! Why?! What's his plan & are there other dieties aware of the driving force behind such an action?! There's some excellent reasons for this. One Luz has the idea of using the Warden;s armies & clone vats  as a piece of a planar holdings. Two the Warden represents a possible conquering army for Greyhawk or another such setting. Three the Warden needs to be tamed & its an amusment to Luz fitting his own twisted evil. But there's far more going on here below mere material conquest. 

Keep & Cult Aboard The Warden - - B2 Keep on the Borderlands & T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 We're going to pick thing up right from here on the blog where things are getting juicier aboard the Warden or one of its attendant generational ships. 

In B2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax, the cults of Chaos are very well ingrained into the woodwork of the classic module. They have quite a bit of organization in place within B2 but the whole Caves of Chaos set up reads like a cult cell's headquarters or branch. A cell that's getting ready for a major operation. But why?! 
The feeling that was given in B2 is that there's a ton of stuff happening under the surface of the module. Keep on the Borderlands always seemed like it was a module that had a more detailed back history to the region. 
If this module is situated aboard the Starship Warden, then it begs the question who or what is residing at the Caves of Chaos?! And how did the Keep get to the Warden. There's a theory that's been rattling around my head over the last couple of days. 

And it goes something like this, the Asgardian Dwarves of myth & legend have been using the brass rings to explore the planes in eons past. The Warden crossed into the planar path of one of these dimensional tunnels. And this event unleashed &  caused all kinds of chaos. 
The Dwarves tried to set things right & used rune magic to make things right but it was already too late. The damage had been done. A few reflections of Greyhawk ported themselves over the Warden or one of its attendant ships. But the deed was done in the darkness. That deed enabled the Chaos to sweep into the lands surrounding the keep. And over the centuries that chaos became aware of its surroundings. And it bent certain lifeforms to its will & the Dwarves are aware of this. 
The Dwarven kings have over the centuries sent champions human & otherwise into the ruins aboard the Warden & its attendant starships. Warfare has erupted around the keep & its only now over the last ten or so years that the cults of Chaos have actually gotten some measure of success. T1 The Village of Hommlet's Moat house has always within my games had a secret passage & tunnel that let to the Caves of Chaos room 'K'. Because the cult's agents has made in roads into Hommlet itself. 
But once the tunnel has been found in the moat house then maybe a small portion of the Starship Warden should reveal itself. 

But what should actually reveal itself is some of the rune marks that the dwarven kings used all of those centuries ago to stabilize the rip in space time. Those are the powerful domains of the gods. And its the fact that aboard the Warden the concentration of Earth's past, present, & future are at stake. This means that life, death, & resurrection  itself may be screwed up. The laws of the dead are out of balance entirely a fact that has been taken advantage of by the cult of chaos. And it might be put right by   Jason Vey's 'Castles & Crusades The Book of the Dead'. 


The cult of chaos is preparing for something big but what if its not an invasion of the surrounding countryside but preparing to take another entire deck?! What would happen if that humanoid army suddenly disappeared!? Because the cult of chaos has other plans for the humanoid army & we'll see why coming up! 

Keep & Castle Aboard The Warden - B2 Keep on the Borderlands & T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 Over at the Vaults of Pandius there's a really solid article and battle map on the Caves of Chaos from B2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax by Darren Moffett. He makes an excellent point about his own experiences with B2; " My main Adult Campaign has been running a sandbox around the Town of Threshold and the Characters took the hooks for some things and not others. My Kids campaign consists of whatever the Adult campaign decide not to do. I modified the kidnapped girls scenario from Thorns Mystara to fit my own ideas. The first few Game session with the adults the kidnappings were happening behind the scenes mostly, as they explored the Sewers, the Old mill and Killed a Hag and Rescued a Druid."  This blog post picks right up where this one left off. 

If we are using Gary Gygax's  T1 The Village of Hommlet & B2 The Keep on the Borderland together as a part of a campaign  backdrop aboard Troll Lord's The Starship Warden. Then we are going to need a town or village to act as the campaign anchor
The old religion in T1 The Village of Hommlet has been pushed out & the newer faith is taking hold. Could the old religion of the druids actually be the remains of the Warden's ecology sciences department. And the new St. Cuthbert be part of the old  command & control group aboard the Warden?! Sure they could but whose behind the Cult of Chaos?! My guess would be some of the colonial forces aboard the Warden. Little by little a serpent has been winding through the lands of the generation ship. Maybe Robert H. Howard's Set or another Lovcraftian Chaos god is behind the shrine of Chaos in the cavern works in section   'K'.  Where did the humanoids come from?! The Warden is churning them out itself! The Warden  maybe subject to dark forces as the humanoids rage across the land. The Starship Warden has been on its journey for quite sometime now looking at the Starship Warden rpg book. Personally there maybe a door that the cult of chaos is guarding leading  into the bowelsof the Warden. Reading through B2 the cult of chaos is very powerful even though this is a beginning module. They are motivated, have access to magic, & the blessings of their evil masters. So where are their evil masters?! For the Starship Warden perhaps on another deck entirely. Each deck could well be considered another campaign realm entirely. Corrupting the hearts & minds of your enemies is a long staple of Science Fantasy. And these dark powers of B2 have multiple agendas working at the same time. Not even the high technologies of the Warden maybe enough to hold this at bay. The OSR  Grimoire blog has an excellent entry from April 2021 that hits on a high point and takes in a bit about the cosmology of  Paul Anderson like nature of Law & Chaos within B2; "Much has been written suggesting the American frontier as the ideological framework behind D&D in general, and "The Keep on the Borderlands" in particular, (see comments for this post from Grognardia as far back as 2008, as well as this post from Blog of Holding in 2016).

While an important perspective, the later module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983) makes a better case for this argument.  By comparison, the near apocalyptic setting described in the background for module B2 presents an endangered civilization under siege:

The Realm of mankind is narrow and constricted. Always the forces of Chaos press upon its borders, seeking to enslave its populace, rape its riches, and steal its treasures. If it were not for a stout few, many in the Realm would indeed fall prey to the evil which surrounds them. Yet, there are always certain exceptional and brave members of humanity, as well as similar individuals among its allies - dwarves, elves, and halflings - who rise above the common level and join battle to stave off the darkness which would otherwise overwhelm the land. Bold adventurers from the Realm set off for the Borderlands to seek their fortune. It is these adventurers who, provided they survive the challenge, carry the battle to the enemy. Such adventurers meet the forces of Chaos in a testing ground where only the fittest will return to relate the tale. Here, these individuals will become skilled in their profession, be it fighter or magic-user, cleric or thief. They will be tried in the fire of combat, those who return, hardened and more fit. True, some few who do survive the process will turn from Law and good and serve the masters of Chaos, but most will remain faithful and ready to fight chaos wherever it threatens to infect the Realm.

from B2 "The Keep on the Borderlands"

The conflict between Law and Chaos described above is an example of the influence of Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné series on the implicit cosmology of the original D&D game."
This brings up the point is the fate of the Warden more then simply the fate of a spacecraft on an interstellar journey? Ancient OSR theorists such as myself   say, 'yes'.  The Warden's journey has at its heart the frontier within a frontier. 

The Caves of Chaos Aboard The Warden - B2 The Keep of the Borderlands by Gary Gygax The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

B2 The Keep of the Borderlands by Gary Gygax reads through like two parts indroduction to B/X Dungeons & Dragons & one part of a greater hinted at history. A history that the PC's stumble into and we get a sense that there is far more to this adventure's background then we know?!  But it brings up another point, what was the original form & function of the castles & forts aboard the Warden?!  And yes I'm laboring this point. But there are true reasons for laboring this point. 

The Starship Warden has been on its journey for quite sometime now looking at the Starship Warden rpg book. B2 Could be the prior adventure events before the PC's stumble into the village of Hommlet. There's the fact if B2 is situated aboard the Warden or one of its attendant ships then the forces of darkness have indeed breeched the ship through the brass rings from some other plane. The Warden is serious trouble! 

"The Caves of Chaos" (2005) by Michael Komarck.

Just how influencial is B2?! Well take a look at the OSR Grimoire from April in this blog entry here. For some solid OSR  resources follow this blog. The Warden itself maybe subject to dark forces as the humanoids rage across the land. 

Could the mad hermit actually be one of the original Warden crew actually be the transitional NPC that leds in the forces of chaos?! Hommlet, its orignal form & function has been lost to time. But with these Dark Forces are now pushing the Warden unto the breaking point. 

My Private Hommlet - T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

The village of Hommlet is more then the sum of its parts. The whole cloth pseudo European village created by Gary Gygax transported over to the Starship Warden . How did it get aboard the Warden or one of its ships?! My advice? Don't even bothering answering that question. Leave the fact open that there's something really strange going on aboard the Warden or one of its other ships. The mysteries of the Warden should be huge. The biggest mistake that I see with many dungeon masters is trying to solve every campaign point at once. The mystery of the starship is half the fun. This is a location that could be sailing through the ether for eons. We simply don't know. And its this not knowing that is half the fun. 
The other half is the fact that because of the way the Warden's decks are set up almost anything goes.  If we go by  the Rings of Brass, magical portals that lead to dwarven roads carved through the planes from Castles & Crusades Stains Upon The Green. We could even cross into other time periods of history. And this is where things get interesting & very dangerous. 
Hommlet is the perfect breeding ground for this. An isolated village in the middle of nowhere with a cast of NPC's. NPC's who have their own agenda. And that damn moat house just waiting for the PC's to stumble across it. And what about that hidden door in the moat house? This blog entry picks up right from here. 

You know the one that leads down into the other dungeons perhaps that pops up into old keep that keep on the Borderlands?! And what if those brass rings have been active for quite awhile now. And that they've been letting other interested parties into the underbelly of the Warden? Those other interested parties might be from another time or another deck?! Something that we've been thinking about is using some other interested parties from across time & space. Say the Nazi's special teams of soldiers & scientists who would love to get ahold of the Warden's technologies. And that's the beautiful part about using Amazing Adventures rpg mixed in. The Amazing Adventures Rpg companion has everything you need to pull this off easily. What happens with  the appearance of the Elven prince Wren upon the Warden?!  Prince Wren is from 'Starship Warden: Saving Wren and Deck Expansions adventure module. Worse what happens if the Nazi get a hold of the Elven prince Wren?! This could be very bad indeed. Will they know about the appearance of the party among the village of Hommlet?! Short answer yes because of the spies that have been secreted in Hommlet some months prior to the appearance of the party. 
If Hommlet is aboard the Warden this may also mean that there are a number of other parties from throughout Earth's history scattered across various decks. 
But if these parties from across Earth's history poke a bit too much then the forces of Chaos already on other locations of the Warden may strike back. This could help to explain some of B2 Keep on the Borderlands By Gary Gygax adventure elements. But it brings up another point, what was the original form & function of the castles & forts aboard the Warden?! 


B2 Could be the prior adventure events before the PC's stumble into the village of Hommlet. They barely survive the events of Keep on the Borderlands. What are the powers of the Caves of Chaos planning for the Warden?! Is there a lot more bubbling below the surface then anyone realizes?! 

My Shipbound Hommlet - T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 " If your looking for the original , where it began, old school town, by the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, this is a must read/play, for any serious role play gamer."
Sometimes its all about returning to where it all began & especially on the Starship Warden for me. Flashback to Eighty Two a smoke filled room with four older gamers of fourteen year old & us younger players. We were aboard a spacecraft roaring through interstellar space. But none us of knew it. As far as our PC's were concerned we in Greyhawk coming into the one horse village of Hommlet.  Today we pick up right here. 

The old tricks are the best ones & DM Steve may be slick. But he's not slick enough to know that we both had been through my uncle's twists & turns inspired by The Dragon magazine's 'Metamorphosis Alpha Modifications' by A. Mark Ratner (Dragon #16). And this article concerned using mutant animals & other mutations within Metamorphis Alpha first edition. Now this has been addressed within the current Starship Warden rules & Amazing Adventures rpg rules. Back in '82 nobody really addressed the fact that there were talking animal NPC's when you were playing with Dwarves, Elves, etc.  Especially given the fact that we were playing with these. Why?! Because this was the DM's home brewed campaign world. So it flew completely over our heads that we were aboard a star ship. 
But it brings up another point, what was the original form & function of the castles & forts aboard the Warden?! 


The 1930's deck of the Warden get's invaded by orcs, gnolls, etc. because some evil god has turned on the faucet of power on?! This didn't happen overnight, this has been going on for centuries. The PC's going from village to village could in point of fact be using facilities that were meant for vacation resorts or other facilities. This is especially true when my uncle used the article  'Still More Additions to MA' by James Ward (Dragon #8). And one of my PC's had his face taken off by some fish thing from the clone vats. Modern DM's can use Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure to create their own face rippers.

 

This brings up an important point are some of the other demi human races aware of their own Starship Warden or how tenuous the situation is?!  If we go by  the Rings of Brass, magical portals that lead to dwarven roads carved through the planes from Castles & Crusades Stains Upon The Green then perhaps these account for the appearance of the Elven prince Wren upon the Warden. Prince Wren is from 'Starship Warden: Saving Wren and Deck Expansions adventure module. 

So to loop it around Europe has always been aboard the Warden?! Does this mean that the temples, religious sites,etc. are also copied?! All of the major & minor ones?! Well this might help to explain how the 'evil gods' of Greyhawk may have come in?! And why the T1 The Village of Hommlet is a perfect introduction. Next time the march & match of history.